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[0:00] Alan Seales: Welcome to a special little mini bonus episode of The Theatre Podcast. Intimate personal conversations with theatre's biggest names. Real quick, of course, our normal plug these days, please go to thetheatrepodcast.com slash Patreon to help support us. You can find us online at theatre underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. As always, I'm Alan Seales.

[0:25] Jillian Hockman: And I'm Jillian Hockman. And this is a little bonus episode we want to put out to get your attention back to episode nine, which is Beth Leavel and episode 14, which is Dori Berinstein, because it is Prom Takeover month.

[0:41] Alan Seales: That's right. So Beth plays Dee Dee Allen, who is one of the leading ladies of The Prom, and Dori Berinstein is the producer of The Prom and so many other things. And they are two of our favorite people that we have talked to on this podcast. Everybody's our favorite person, but we really do love them. A special place in our heart for everyone on The Prom.

[1:01] Jillian Hockman: Beth and Dori gave us the interviews in December and yeah, December actually. We released in December and January respectively, but we released the episodes, interviewed them long before we had any inclination that The Prom wanted to do a May takeover. So since then and now, there's been a lot that's actually happened for The Prom. Of course, seven Tony nominations, including Best New Musical and a couple of the leads of...

[1:28] Alan Seales: Beth has a nomination.

[1:29] Jillian Hockman: Yeah, Beth has a nomination now and then Brooks has a nomination.

[1:33] Alan Seales: And Caitlin.

[1:34] Jillian Hockman: And Caitlin, yeah. So there's a lot of...

[1:36] Alan Seales: And Casey.

[1:37] Jillian Hockman: Oh yeah, Casey too. Everybody's so good. Seven people specifically. But also what's happened is the news came out, in case you haven't heard, that The Prom is also getting made into a movie that will be on Netflix and then it's going to get written into a young adult novel.

[1:55] Alan Seales: That's so great. I love that they're bringing this story to every different medium because it's an important story and it's something that it's starting conversations nationally from the Thanksgiving Day parade with the first LGBT kiss on Macy's parade on TV to household conversations of how people can talk to their family members about their different orientations or different ways that they feel. And I like that this is now being expanded to every different medium under the sun. So everyone gets to have some prom.

[2:37] Jillian Hockman: Everybody from The Prom that we've talked to either on this podcast or in our personal travels has mentioned the feedback and mentioned the things that they're told and the letters that they get sent. And there's people now who are living in the places that are represented within the show, who are writing them and who are coming to see the show and telling them that for the first time ever, they're seeing themselves represented on stage in terms of like the teenage queer individual. Or Josh Layman told us on his episode that there was a guy who was a larger man, probably 19 or 20, who was like, you're the first person I've seen that's like me who's on stage. And this is so inspiring. Oh, by the way, I'm bisexual.

That's the first time I've ever told anybody and then broke down ugly crying. So the show is inspiring people. And what's also very impressive to me in this awards season is that it is the only show that is not based on some other source material. It's completely original. I really like that.

[3:39] Alan Seales: Almost everyone in the show who's kind of a long time performer or a long time person in the industry, but specifically Beth and Dori, have been doing this for years and years and years and have been in so many different productions or been a part of all these different things. Dori's done television and film and all these things and Beth has done so many shows, but they are so passionate about this particular show and about the message. And they have been with this for seven plus years. And this is something that you can tell with them, with these two, but with everybody, this is a passion project for them. And I'm really, really proud of the fact that it's a passion project that's actually really good. Because sometimes you get these projects that are not as great, but you could tell how much everybody's into it. But this is a story that is not going anywhere anytime soon.

[4:38] Jillian Hockman: Yeah. Beth, Brooks, Angie, and Christopher, the parts were all written for them starting seven years ago in the readings and the workshops. And then they went with it. It is so rare that you have four original characters written specifically for four actors that were not only there in the beginning, but made it all the way with the production as it moved its way to Broadway. So, it's very unique in that way as well.

[5:09] Alan Seales: But everybody, please go back, go to thetheatrepodcast.com or wherever you're listening now on your favorite podcast player, scroll back to episode nine with the wonderful Beth Leavel and then listen to episode 14 with lead producer Dori Berinstein. She is actually the first producer, only producer so far we've had on the podcast and has a very interesting perspective on the show and on the industry. And it's just a lovely person to talk to. They both are. As always, you can find us online, theatre underscore podcast on Instagram and Twitter. You can find us on the web, thetheatrepodcast.com slash Patreon if you want to help support us in any way you can.

[5:51] Jillian Hockman: And thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting us already and has been here from the beginning or if you're just finding us now. We see everything. We read all the emails. We see all your comments. We love talking to everybody and we really, really appreciate it. And we hope you'll continue to support us so we can keep doing really cool stuff and find ways to bring you even more amazing content like things like takeovers and giveaways and all that.

[6:16] Alan Seales: Speaking of takeovers, let us know through feedback at thetheatrepodcast.com. Send us an email. Let us know what show you'd like us to have take over the podcast next. We always love reading emails from listeners and taking your suggestions. So let us know and we'll try to make it happen. So thank you to you. Thank you to The Prom. Please visit them online at theprommusical.com for all the information and to get tickets and whatnot.

[6:43] Jillian Hockman: Go see this show. If you're anywhere near New York, I would not be surprised if it tours at some point. Go see this show. It is just so great.